Chicago City Wire

President Joe Biden has promised the Teamsters a $36 billion pension bailout just two years after the parent Teamster union organization was released from federal oversight due to corruption. 

The bailout was aimed at 350,000 Teamsters members in the Midwest whose retirement funds are invested in the Central States Pension Fund. The bailout is worth around $102,000 to every worker included in the retirement fund. The move affects 25,000 workers and retirees in Illinois. Biden trumpeted the buyout of what has been one of the most corrupt public organizations in recent history. 

“Today’s Announcement Protects the Earned Pensions of more than 350,000 Union Workers and Retirees from 60% cuts: Prior to passage of the American Rescue Plan, the Central States Pension Fund, which is largely made up of Teamster workers and retirees, was the largest financially distressed multiemployer pension plan in the nation. Workers in this plan include truck drivers, warehouse workers, construction workers, and food processors,” The White House said in an announcement. 

“Without the historic Special Financial Assistance program included in President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, these workers and retirees – who have already earned these benefits – would have faced estimated benefit reductions of roughly 60% in the next few years. The Central States Pension Fund estimates that it will now be able to pay full benefits to workers and retirees through 2051. Today’s announcement is estimated to benefit thousands of workers and retirees in individual states across the US.” 

Around 15.2 percent of those employed in Illinois are represented by a union, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s around 752,000 union members and a further 66,000 non-members represented by a union. Of those, the Teamsters, one the largest union in the world with 1.2 million members. represents a large portion.

The Teamsters Joint Council 25 is based in Chicago and represents 100,000 members in Illinois and northwest Indiana.

The Teamsters were under the oversight of the federal government beginning in 1988 and lasting until 2020. “February 17 will be a historic day for the Teamsters because we’re finally ending government interference in our union,” Teamsters President James P. Hoffa told Bloomberg Law in 2020. The federal government began oversight of the organization after an agreement that avoided a court hearing at the time determining the government’s specific powers in such matters. The move came after then-federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani filed suit against the union and its backers, including organized crime members. The accusations included murders organized by those involved in the union and extensive racketeering.

Only five months later, former Teamsters Vice President John Ulrich was sentenced to 18 months for bribery, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Teamsters have been involved in recent attempts to organize Amazon warehouses across the country., BBC reported.

The Teamsters were heavily involved in Biden's election efforts. The union took some credit for the win in its aftermath. 

“Teamster power came to the fore. Some 150 PFOs nationwide, as well as other Teamster volunteers and staff, made 340,000 phone calls and sent 1.2 million text messages in the lead-up to the November 3 election. The union also sent out 1.3 million pieces of mail and reached more than 350,000 members via digital advertising,” the union boasts on its website. 

Then Teamsters president Jim Hoffa, son of infamously missing Jimmy Hoffa who led the union amid ties to organized crime, declared after the victory Biden would be providing pension help. 

“This union backed the Biden-Harris ticket because it put forward a bold pro-worker agenda that will enhance the ability of workers to join together and collectively bargain for better pay and working conditions,” Hoffa said. 

“It will also prioritize pension reform to boost workers and retirees and will do more to protect the more than a million essential Teamsters on the job during this coronavirus pandemic.”